Casa Camper - Berlin

Given the acclaim received by the first Casa Camper hotel in Barcelona, it is a surprise that it has taken some five years for the Mallorcan-based shoe company Camper to open to its next hotel. A case of second album syndrome, or adherence to company slogan “Walk, don’t run”? Regardless, Camper has lived up to the promise of its initial steps into the hotel world with the launch of the Berlin property. This 51-room hotel offers a carefully thought through interior design, two very different dining concepts, and a range of simple sustainability measures all wrapped up with the usual dose of Camper levity.

Messages such as ‘Walk down. It’s healthier’ between the lift and the door to the staircase, or ‘Ugly but important’ (in reference to the in-room emergency evacuation plan) are rendered in an informal hand-drawn font, and show the hotel doesn’t take itself too seriously.
Fernando Amat and Jordi Tió, the founders of Vinçon, Barcelona’s fashionable homewares store, were the interior designers. They have taken a refreshing view on the standard hotel room layout, designing them ‘back to front’. The bathroom is pushed to the totally glazed façade of the building doing away with the typical ‘corridor’ entrance to leave a much better proportioned area for the comfortable ‘Hotel Clinic’ bed. Those frankly awkward attempts to ‘drag’ natural light through to the bathroom are thus avoided. And while the street view basin-side is unremarkable, guests can still take a look as they brush their teeth.

Which leads to the issue of privacy. Internally, the whole bathroom area including the separate WC can be screened from the bedroom with a ‘bambalinas’ or curtain. To the exterior the glass of the window below the counter height shelf / basin-surround is effectively screened with horizontal etched stripes. The broad window above can be closed by a curtain printed with the room’s number. The etching on the wall-to-ceiling window in the shower proved insufficient at night given the recessed lamp at waist height within the shower, so an additional sandblasted screen was added which has been hinged to allow for cleaning. Total blackout is achieved via externally mounted and electrically controlled blinds at both windows.

The bathroom’s counter height shelf made from a composite grey stone provides ample space for guests’ toiletries. The hotel’s Rituals amenities are provided, unbranded, in Muji dispensers. A freestanding magnifying mirror and hinged mirror at the basin together with the natural daylight are perfect for making up / shaving. By night, sufficient diffused light comes from the partially recessed Zeffiro ceiling lamp by Artemide, comprising a pair of curvaceous opalised sails.

The guestroom interiors feature unvarnished Tauari wood floors, which complement the dark grey bathroom tiling and deep red wallpaper by Dutch firm Vescom. Wall-mounted Tolmeo anglepoise-style lamps, also by Artemide, leave space on the wooden bedside tables for a Logitech iPod dock and an old fashioned pushbutton telephone, a retro reference that is also picked up in the Bakelite-style light switches.
In addition to the hanging space of the open cupboard in the bathroom, the wall opposite the bed has a long strip of brushed aluminium coathooks. From these hang the hotel directory, folded over a wire coat hanger, and a Mayday lamp by Konstantin Grcic for Flos. With the cable for the Philips flatscreen also running across the surface of the wall such utilitarian touches are typical of the approach of Amat and Tió. Industrial Erco spot lamps and exposed ducting line the ceiling of the seventh-floor Tentempié guest lounge. Here a 24-hour snack menu is available and breakfast is prepared in the adjacent kitchen. An arrangement of comfy, wing-backed leather upholstered chairs is partially separated from the adjacent Bodega honesty bar by some of the Bouroullec brothers’ self-assembly, modular Algue screening for Vitra.

Further design from the Bouroullecs can be experienced downstairs at the Dos Palillos restaurant, which they designed in its entirety. Entered via the lobby or through a separate street entrance around the corner, Dos Palillos offers a set menu of oriental tapas style dishes. Each dish of the multi-course set menus is lovingly prepared in the open stainless steel kitchen. Diners seated at the long wooden counter, which forms the axis of the restaurant, get to see the precision of the preparation. With Albert Raurich, a former elBulli chef, at the helm this is a culinary experience not to be missed. Passersby get to glimpse the action except when the fragile-looking, crushed gold and silver backed curtains are pulled. A small basement gym and sauna together with a boardroom meeting space complete the hotel’s offer.

A variety of Spanish furniture suppliers have supplied the hotel with pieces including Quim Larrea’s Boomerang Chill chair for Sancal, the Tina light by Marset which feature in each guestroom, and Amat’s Jamaica stools in the bathrooms. The Tentempié restaurant is furnished with Lievore Altherr Molina’s Aero bench for Sellex and Andreu World’s Sit chairs. All the rugs are from Nani Marquina.

General Manager Alexander Schneider describes the hotel as “a true design icon mixed with an everyday touch.” Certainly there are a wealth of design details to be experienced at many levels across the property. However it is the pared-down, no-nonsense simplicity of Amat and Tió’s design together that really makes the hotel.

Rooms    51 guestrooms
Dining    Dos Palillos, Tentempie
Drinking    Bodega Honesty Bar
Leisure    Gym / sauna
Facilities    Boardroom, business centre